How to hold up your wedding dress

Saying "I do" outdoors? Then you'll definitely be getting down and dirty on your wedding day—in more ways than one. No bride-to-be wants a muddy wedding dress. You can, however, avoid ruining your gown by putting a few expert tips to use.

To help keep your wedding dress intact, we tapped the industry's authorities for their best-kept secrets on preserving a wedding gown's hem. By following these tips, you'll be able to dance the night away without worrying about damaging that dream dress.

Meet the Expert

• Margaret Butler is the co-founder of Dublin Cleaners, a dry cleaning business in Columbus, Ohio. Butler has worked on bridal gown preservation for the past 35 years.
• Sally Conant is the executive director of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists, which offers wedding gown restoration and preservation.
• Terry Hall is the head of retail and business development at Amsale.

Purchase an Underskirt

It won't cost you a fortune and, in fact, will likely save you from all sorts of unsightly stains (think grass, wet asphalt, dirt, etc.) that are bound to occur during outdoor pre-wedding festivities. An underskirt or slip—worn under your wedding dress to gently lift the hem off the ground—works for relatively stationary photo shoots or en route to the site where the photos are to be taken, says Butler. This way, your dress can at least remain somewhat pristine until the ceremony begins.

Use a Sheet

If you're in a pinch and didn't plan ahead by purchasing an underskirt, you can wrap a sheet around the bottom of your gown instead, says Conant. "Moreover, if your photographer is shooting outdoors, he or she might also cover the area with a sheet or something else to protect the dress."

Bustle Up

"Having a seamstress install a secure bustle will help with ordinary movement and dancing," Butler says. Ideally, the bustle should lift your dress far enough off the ground that soil isn't an issue.

Conant advises, "In practice, bustle loops often break so it's a good idea to attach some safety pins to the underside of your gown in case of an emergency."

Make It a Team Effort

In other words, get by with a little help from your friends. Hall recommends holding up the bottom of your gown, especially when walking outdoors. "Don't forget to utilize your bridesmaids too. They can help lift the dress or carry your train as needed," he says.

Remove Your Shoes

Rocking a wedding gown with a tulle bottom or other delicate fabric? Hall strongly suggests removing your shoes before putting the dress on or taking it off. Duly noted.

Spray the Hem

According to Conant, 3M makes a Scotchgard Fabric Protector spray that can be used to prevent a gown from getting dirty. "There are a few cleaners who offer this service as well," she says. "The trick is to spray the hem enough to protect it without leaving a line between the part of the gown that has been sprayed and the part that hasn't." When in doubt, leave it up to the professionals to avoid misusing the product.

Try to Be Careful

But not so careful that you can't have any fun, of course. "We caution brides before the wedding about asphalt, concrete (stains, abrasions), and black dyed mulch stains," Butler says. Err on the side of caution by avoiding puddles or other problematic areas. Most importantly though, remember that the idea is to wear the dress, be comfortable, and experience every moment of the day as it comes, Hall says. "It's going to be a challenge to keep the dress perfect, and that's perfectly okay. After all, there aren't many stains that a dry cleaner can't get out."

You've found your dream wedding dress (yay!). While the hardest part might be over, there are some additional details you now have to see to, such as alterations and fittings, finding the ideal veil, and figuring out the exact science that is bustling.

What Is a Bustle?

A bustle refers to the process of transitioning a wedding gown to function as if it has no train. "Bustle" can also function as a noun, and refer to the style once it's sewn into the dress.

In addition to perfecting the fit of your dress, a seamstress will also tailor it to have a bustle by adding buttons, hooks, or ribbons to make it easier for you to walk post-ceremony. There are many different wedding dress bustle types to choose from, so it's best to acquaint yourself with them before heading into your first fitting.

Also keep in mind that it's very difficult to bustle a dress yourself (while wearing it, of course) so you will need to entrust someone with the task and make sure that they attend a fitting with you to learn the mechanics of how to execute the picture-perfect bustle—lest you dislike any back-shots of your dress, or (gasp) trip on the length of your train while busting a move on the dance floor.

Do You Need a Bustle?

Another great question. Without a bustle, gowns with trains will be stepped on all night long. In order to dance and move around comfortably, the dress must be bustled, which nearly all dresses are. Unless your dress is short or tea-length, you're going to need one.

Most wedding dresses come without bustles, however, because that's something the seamstress will need to create to primarily fit your height. Furthermore, there are many different ways in which the seamstress can bustle the dress—which brings us to the various kinds of wedding bustle types.

Read on for a guide to the different styles so that you have a sense of what you might want for your gown.

Types of Bustles

Here, we explain five of the most common wedding dress bustle styles.

American Bustle (aka an Over-Bustle)

This style has several hooks scattered throughout the waistline of your dress that enables the train to be lifted up and hooked (you guessed it) over the top of the dress itself. This style can have one, three, or even five bustle pick-up points for an even more dramatic look.

Good bustle style for ball gowns.

Austrian Bustle

This unique bustle style is quickly gaining in popularity and creates an eye-catching shape. Using this technique, seamstresses gather the gown fabric centrally, down the middle of the gown through the back creating a vertical illusion similar to ruching. Another benefit of this style? It's particularly easy for bridesmaids to help get into place for you.

By sewing ribbons through the back seam of the gown, it can be pulled to secure both sides together, as an alternative to over or under.

Good bustle style for gowns with intricate detailing.

French Bustle (aka a Victorian Bustle or Under Bustle)

This style favors gowns that have a more natural waistline. This technique is the reverse of the American bustle, as hooks pick up the train of the gown as they tuck under the silhouette itself. Often, ribbons are attached to connect and secure the fabric and can have numerous pick-up points for extra flair. (Think Belle, from Beauty and the Beast).

Good bustle style for A-line dresses or mermaid dresses.

Ballroom Bustle

This bustle tends to transform the dress silhouette from the back, essentially making the train disappear. With a ballroom bustle, it doesn't even look like the dress has been bustled at all, but rather gives the illusion that it was a floor-length gown all along. To create a ballroom bustle, multiple bustle points are sewn around the bodice, and the fabric folds into itself delicately. This style, however, is typically the most expensive given that more bustle points need to be sewn in.

Good bustle style for ball gowns.

Train-Flip Bustle

Like the ballroom bustle, this style gives the illusion of no bustle at all. In this style, though, the train of the dress flips under the fabric and is pinned into itself, once again giving the illusion of a floor-length gown (with an even fuller bottom, thanks to the extra fabric attached underneath).

Good bustle style for ball gowns.

Tips for Bustling Your Dress

Now that you're familiar with the different wedding dress bustle types, you're ahead of the game. But we've still got a few more tips.

1. Someone (Not You) Will Need to Learn How to Bustle Wedding Dresses

Once you're in your wedding dress, you won't be able to put the bustle in place. Someone else will have to do it. Enlist the help of the maid of honor, a bridesmaid, your mom, or mother-in-law. Whoever you choose, they'll need to come with you to your final wedding dress fitting so that the seamstress can walk them through bustling up your dress. Even if they've bustled a dress before (and they probably haven't), every wedding dress is different, and different bustle styles work differently. So, it's best if they can learn how to bustle a wedding dress straight from the expert.

2. Bustles Can Break

No matter how carefully your seamstress stitches your bustle, there's always a possibility that it can break. Wedding dresses can be very heavy, and you're relying on a few delicate bustle points to hold the whole operation in place while dancing, walking, and mingling. The solution? Prepare for the worst case scenario by having safety pins, a sewing needle, and clear fishing line on hand in the bridal suite. If your wedding dress was bustled with ribbons and one of them comes loose, a bridesmaid can sew the ribbon back into the dress with the clear fishing line. If the problem is more complicated, you can pin the dress together at the broken bustle point with an oversized safety pin.

3. Don't Forget to Budget for the Bustle

Wedding dress bustles don't come cheap. The final price will depend on how many bustle points and what type of bustle you need. The cost of adding a bustle to your wedding dress ranges between $75 to $250 on average, so don't forget to add that cost to your overall wedding dress budget.

FAQ

• When should I bustle my wedding dress?

  Brides will typically bustle their dress after the ceremony and before the reception, though some opt to leave their train flowing for the first dance. Anytime you feel your train would impede walking around comfortably is a good time to bustle a dress.

• How long does it take to bustle a wedding dress?

  Bustling a wedding dress shouldn't take longer than a couple of minutes depending on your helper's familiarity with the process. This is why it's important for them to attend at least one fitting with you to understand the technique and reduce any fumbling time on the wedding day.

• Is it difficult to walk or sit in a bustled wedding dress?

  Bustles are intended to add to your comfort and mobility, not impede them. A professionally executed bustle is created to fit your body and the natural fall of the wedding dress, so it shouldn't be any more constricting than the silhouette's own design.

What can I use to hold my wedding dress up?

How do I stop stepping on my wedding dress?

How do you keep a strapless wedding dress from falling down?

How do you bustle a heavy wedding dress?